Brutal killer gets life in jail

LIFE SENTENCE . . . Steven Dunks

A JEALOUS lover who battered his girlfriend to death then covered his crime for a month by sending texts from her phone has been jailed for life.

Steven Dunks (45), of Milnrow Road, Shaw, will serve at least 19 years after being found guilty of murdering Lynn Howarth (43) last July.

The pair has been involved in a tempestuous, 18-month relationship peppered with aggressive arguments while Dunks was also seeing another woman, Karen Chester.

After becoming sick of his behaviour, agoraphobic Lynn ended the relationship and began seeing Anthony Berry.

Jealous, enraged Dunks turned up at her flat in Boleyn Court, Heywood and confronted the new couple.

Dunks and Lynn went out drinking on July 27 after he decided he only wanted her and would prove he could be faithful.

The pair were separated on the way home after an argument and when Dunks arrived at the flat he convinced Lynn to let him in — a decision that led to her death Manchester Crown Court was told.

Once inside, Dunks launched a sustained, savage attack that left her face and jaw shattered.

He then ran off, taking her mobile phone and her bank card.

Over the next month Dunks sent numerous texts to Mr Berry and Lynn’s mum, pretending to be her.

Dunks also used her bank card to empty her account.

Her decomposing body was eventually discovered on the kitchen floor in late August.

Det Chief Insp Richard Eales said: “He ended her life in one of the most violent ways I’ve seen, then left her body to rot.

“Lynn was limited by her anxiety and fear, she didn’t travel far from her flat and her social life was led mainly online. Dunks knew that and thought he could cover his tracks.”